Lost Secrets
by illusionsmadereal
Summary: Hermione remembers the runes from the arch the Veil was placed in and searching through an Advanced Ancient Ruins book, she reveals a secret about the Veil no one knew of before. Might her discovery lead to Harry, Ron, & Hermione finding Sirius? Alive?
1. Hermione's Plan

Lost Secrets

Hermione's Plan

Summary: Hermione remembers a few of the ruins from the arch the Veil was placed in and searching through an Advanced Ancient Ruins book, she reveals a secret about the Veil no one knew of before. Might her discovery lead to Harry, Ron, and Hermione finding Sirius? Alive?

Disclamer: I only own the plot, everything else belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling

* * *

Harry sat in his windowsill and looked up at the cloudless night sky, taking in the feeling of peace the quiet night provided him with. It wasn't long however, before his thoughts turned to the most recent of events at Hogwarts. 

Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard Harry had ever met, had died. Harry struggled with his thoughts, trying desperately to push them back into the corners of his mind, but to no avail, the memories refused to be pushed aside this time.

The images from that night took hold of him, and soon he was remembering everything from the horrible night. The potion he forced Dumbledore to drink, the Inferi crawling out of the water, arriving in Hogsmead only to be told the Dark Mark had been placed above Hogwarts itself, racing to the school in hopes of helping whomever they could, Malfoy disarming Dumbledore a split second after Dumbledore had immobilized Harry while he was under his invisibility cloak, Malfoy actually lowering his wand and accepting what Dumbledore had said, Snape killing Dumbledore…

"_No!" _He mentally chastised himself for letting his mind wander that far.

He stood up and walked over to his bed and picked up the note Hermione had sent him the previous day and re-read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope all is well with you and the Dursley's haven't been too horrible to you by making you spend an awful long time outside doing chores. After all, this heat wave is unbearable. Mum and Dad have turned the thermostat down another five degrees yet it hasn't seemed to make any difference. Anyway, I was sort of wondering if I could pop by tomorrow night around midnight or so to discuss a few matters of some importance. Please send me your response immediately. Just so you know, I may not have a chance to respond._

_Hermione_

_P.S. Do you like my owl? She was my late birthday present from Mum and Dad and her name is Tink because when they gave her to me she had this adorable little bell around her leg and when I heard the bell chime it sounded so much like Tinkerbell from the movie Peter Pan._

"What is it with everyone always coming over in the dead of night? They must have better things to do like sleeping." He had mumbled to himself.

Coming back to his senses, he glanced to the clock and saw it was five minutes till midnight and knowing Hermione, she would be neither one minute late nor one minute early.

Harry had responded to her message almost immediately after he had received it. The owl, Tink, had taken a drink from Hedwig's water and the two birds seemed to get along well with each other. He had told Hermione that she could come over. It wasn't until after he had sent Tink off with his message that he realized that if she 'popped' over here, the sound of her apparating in his room would probably wake the entire neighborhood. It was too late however; Hedwig had flown off with Tink when she left so the two could do a double hunting trip.

After he realized that the noise would no doubt wake at least the Dursley's up, he had made a large attempt at sound proofing his room muggle style during the late afternoon. He closed his window and shut it tightly, took some of his Dudley hand-me-downs, rolled them up and then placed them around the sides of the window and taped them there with tape he had found in one of the kitchen drawers earlier that day while the Dursley's were out admiring their garden. He had then tried to do the same with his door after he was sure they were all asleep and wouldn't come barging in, taking old clothes that were once Dudley's and taping them all around the outside line of it and then used multiple shirts and pants to stuff underneath the door where the largest gap was.

When Harry looked at it now, it did in fact look like it might keep the noise out. His hopes were high as he sat on his bed and waited for the clock to strike twelve.

Those five minutes waiting for Hermione left him time to think. He remembered the last time he had been waiting for a certain wizard to come and he was starting to get an odd sense of Deja Vu and it made him somewhat queasy. He didn't really want reminders of those whom he had lost. His father, his mother, Sirius, Dumbledore, granted he really didn't have any memories of his parents to really miss, but he certainly had enough of Sirius and Dumbledore to make him miss them with a fresh wave of sorrow.

He was saved however, when his digital clock turned to twelve o'clock and Hermione, accompanied by Ron, apparated into his room. Harry gave a little jump at the silent appearance of Hermione and the unexpected appearance of Ron and wondered for a split second if he hadn't somehow managed to tape a shirt or two to his ears. He refrained from reaching up and making sure there was nothing there especially when Hermione raised her wand and performed a spell.

"Hello Harry-" began Hermione but was cut off abruptly by Harry who looked suddenly furious.

"Why did you just do magic?" He demanded in a rather hushed tone. "You are going to get me expelled from Hogwarts!"

Hermione smiled and Ron said, "So you are planning on going back to school then, eh?"

Harry huffed, "That's not the point! Why did you just perform magic? I may not be going to school but I'd still like to keep my wand!"

This time Hermione frowned but Ron saved her from answering by replying again, "Hermione sorted it all out with the Ministry. Owl'd 'em and said we'd be apparating over here and would have to do one of those silencing charm things among with a few others to make sure the muggles didn't overhear us. They said it was 'k so long as only silencing charms were done and said they'd be watching carefully to make sure it _was_ only silencing charms and the like."

"Oh okay then."

He felt his anger quickly deflate at the offhand tone of Ron's voice and instantly felt like an idiot for even thinking Hermione would forget about the restrictions on underage magic.

Realizing he was standing from probably jumping up from his bed at his friends' arrival, he quickly sat back down and motioned for them to do the same. They both sat towards the foot of the bed on either side, Hermione on the side closest to the door and Ron on the side closest to the window.

Ron was staring at the window strangely and so Harry followed his gaze and understood he was probably wondering what all the clothes were doing taped to the wall.

"Er- I was trying to soundproof the room. Knew the sound from you two apparating would wake the whole neighborhood so I tried my best to sound proof it the muggle way since I'm not quite 17 yet. Did the same thing to the door." He motioned towards the door and Ron looked over towards it.

"If you didn't do magic, how are the clothes staying up?" Ron stood up and walked towards the door. "And what is this shiny stuff."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other and shook their heads.

"It's called tape Ronald," Hermione said exasperatedly. "It's sticky and holds things in place. It's a muggle creation of course."

"Oh, right."

Ron lowered his head slightly embarrassed and sat back down on Harry's bed.

Harry snickered before starting up the conversation, "How have you two been doing?"

Ron and Hermione began to tell Harry how their summer was going so far and what events have already transpired.

"Fleur is starting to get annoying now. Constantly pulling me aside and talking about what sort of robes I'd look best in and occasionally slipping into French. Bill can't get enough of her though, so I… tolerate her."

Hermione snorted, "Tolerate her? You have no choice, Ron. She's there to stay whether you like it or not."

Ron mumbled a little under his breath before Harry said, "So how _is_ Bill doing?"

"Oh, he's doing as well as to be expected. It was like we thought right after it happened. He just likes really rare steaks and on the full moon he just has a strange urge to go out and party a bit. Fleur doesn't mind of course, she seems to enjoy clubs. Thought she was a bit more proper than that." He shrugged.

"Well I'm glad to know that they are fine and that you all are doing well. Oh, and Hermione, I think Hedwig has a new friend. Hedwig left when Tink did and I think once Tink delivered the letter the two of them were going to go out to a double hunt or something."

"Hmm," Hermione said thoughtfully, "I was wondering what Hedwig was doing there."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes before Harry asked, "So what was the 'matter of great imp-"

Hermione swiftly cut him off and spoke in a hurried voice, "You mean that matter with Scrimgeour, Harry? With all that's been happening since school let out? What with Dumbledore gone, how has the Ministry been running now that their most powerful… for lack of a better word, ally is gone?"

He didn't understand why Hermione had swiftly cut him off before he had even finished speaking. Her eyes, however, kept darting to the window then back to Harry. He caught on quickly; they were being listened in on. But by whom?

"So, Voldemort's supporters? Or… our allies? Who's been… more active?"

Harry made so his eyes also swiftly looked to the window then back to Hermione, in other words, asking her who was eavesdropping.

"I would have to say… hmm, both sides have been quite active, but I'd say probably our allies."

"Oh, so what have both sides been doing lately."

He reluctantly agreed to play along with the little game of keep the Order member or possibly members clueless. Ron seemed to catch on with Hermione and Harry's worried glances at him.

Ron knew that they might have been followed, that Hermione's owl may have been intercepted so that they could read what Harry may have been planning or even doing.

For nearly an hour, Hermione and Ron told Harry everything they dared. All from Voldemort's seemingly vigorous attacks on muggles and wizards, which were leaving body counts in the multiple dozens weekly. Then to what their allies were doing, which included renewed efforts at getting new members to join, reinforcing and re-establishing old safe houses for those wizards and witches who had been marked as targets.

Hermione's voice was cold and somewhat dead sounding when she spoke next, "It seems like now that Dumbledore gone, V-Voldemort believes that nothing can stop him now. Not that anything could before really, but he was a little more hesitant in his actions. Now he's outright rubbing it in the Ministry's face that they can't stop him. The Ministry deserve to feel helpless, after all they put you through Harry, and Dumbledore, what with calling you both liars and such, but… I've heard some conversations from the… allies. I've caught a few things. They still won't let Ron or I join, but we still catch some things sometimes. And Harry… it scares me…" Hermione's voice cracked and she began to cry.

"I don't want to d-die. I'm too young, I've too many more y-years worth of memories to f-fill. It's n-not f-fair."

Hermione broke down, unable to continue if she had been planning on it. Harry and Ron looked at one another, not fully comfortable with the situation, but knowing it's what Hermione needed, Harry and Ron scooted closer to her and both hugged her.

"It's alright Hermione, we'll get through this. We know what needs to be done and it will get done, I promise you. I won't rest until either Voldemort or I am defeated."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say and Harry quickly regretted it when Hermione began to shake even harder.

"I don't want either of you to die!"

Ron spoke up, "Come on Hermione, do you honestly think we're going to let some stupid little Death Eater off us? Come on now, you know it'll take a hell of a lot more to do us in than some little Death Eater."

Hermione pulled back sharply.

"Ronald Weasly. What if you came up against Bellatrix Lestrange, or Lucius Malfoy? They are more powerful than you and are more than twice your age! If you went up against one of them they could easily catch you off guard with a nonverbal spell and could kill you! You haven't even _begun_ to get the hang of spells said nonverbally! And here you are, boasting that one far more experienced then yourself can't kill you! Do I need to actually knock some sense into you? Yes, I do!"

And with that, Hermione slapped Ron right across the face, hard. The sound reverberated throughout the room.

Harry sniggered at Ron's face and was met with an equally hard smack.

"What was that for? I didn't say anything?"

"You may not have said anything, but I know you and Ron think along the _exact_ same lines."

"Yes well, I _really_ can't be kil-"

She slapped him again but this time he knew why. If he had finished the sentence, the Order members outside would have heard and would have forced the information out of him as to why exactly he couldn't be killed.

"Damn it, Hermione!" Harry practically shouted and was rewarded with the Dursley's snores quieting down.

Harry held his breath but was relieved when they continued up again.

"Nice one mate." Ron said.

Hermione slapped him again.

"Stop slapping us Hermione! Honestly, you can pack a real wallop and I would rather _not_ have to explain a bruise tomorrow by Mum." Ron said now hiding behind is upraised arms in an attempt to shield himself.

Hermione was on her full-blown tangent. She had had enough of their immature attitudes. "Well then shut up and stop making stupid remarks. You both are far too arrogant for your own good. Thinking nothing can stop either of you!" She looked sharply at Harry. "And I would have thought _you_ Harry, would have known better. Your father, as described repeatedly by Sirius and Lupin, was arrogant just like that, and look what happened to him! And Sirius! Fighting Bellatrix and egging her on all the more! I'm not surprised he's dead."

Harry had grabbed his wand without even thinking. Ron lunged at him and collided with him into the wall.

"Harry, mate, put down the wand. You know she's just stating facts. Just please, put it down." Ron said in a panicky voice.

Harry slowly lowered his wand. Hermione was against the opposite side of the wall breathing hard and looking rather scared.

"Sorry Hermione," Harry said softly, but then his voice hardened, "but don't let me _ever_ heard you talk about Dad and Sirius that way again."

"I was just trying to make a point." Hermione squeaked out.

Harry's eyebrows knitted together. "What's wrong?"

Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke for a few seconds. Ron had managed to let go of Harry and walked over to Hermione in an attempt to make her leave the wall.

Hermione finally found her voice when she was seated on Harry's bed again, "Your eyes turned red, Harry."

Harry sat heavily on his bed, followed by Ron. "Oh… well… it's not the first, nor is it the last time that happens. I'm just… warning you Hermione, don't make me mad. I can't control my temper anymore. Granted I never was really good at controlling it, but now… it's just lurking there, beneath the surface… easily brought forth by the simplest of things. That is what happened two weeks ago with Uncle Vernon, he was yelling at me, calling me worthless and whatnot. I'm used to that, but he started to go on about Sirius and I felt my temper rise and next thing you know, he's screaming like a girl and running into the living room, all the while saying about how my eyes went red. Gave him a right scare there. Haven't had to do a chore since."

Harry smiled proudly and snickered, glad that something had finally scared them into leaving him alone yet not locked into his room.

"As wicked as that sounds mate, that's not exactly a good thing."

"I know Ron, but at least that's one good thing about having a low restraint on my temper."

Harry tried to smile wryly at them but the smile didn't rub off on them. They still looked at him worriedly.

He sighed before asking, "So Hermione," he cleared his throat, "the subject, you know," he looked out the window, "You said you had clearance?"

She nodded quickly before silently producing a silencing charm on the room and making it so it was impertubal.

"Right, now we can talk freely."

Hermione still looked slightly shaken at what had transpired. Especially since the Order members had no doubt heard all that was said. She just hopped that they took it as the unique connection Harry had with Voldemort and wouldn't think anything more of it since Dumbledore had mentioned something along those lines, just not into too much detail.

"Good, so now do please tell me, what exactly was so important that you couldn't discuss it via owl post?"

Hermione looked at Ron. They apparently had time to discuss things.

"Okay, well I'll just start off sort of in the middle. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, so long as you do in fact start."

She smiled slightly, "Right, well I've been waiting for this summer to come for about two years now. Since this is my first summer where I am legally and adult and can come and go in the Wizarding world as I please, I can do magic, and I can buy things that are restricted for Underage Wizards."

"Keep rubbing it in my face why don't you?"

She smiled, "Sorry Harry. Not trying to rub it in your face. Just trying to get a point across. Any way, why I've been waiting for this summer for two years is because I've been dying to buy this book…"

"Hermione, why the bloody hell do you need-"

"Well if you'd stop interrupting me every five seconds maybe I could tell you!" She snapped angrily at him and glowered.

"Sorry. I'll keep quiet unless I'm really _really_ confused."

She nodded. "As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted. I've been dying to get my hands on the book. Actually, I'm not even sure what it's called. There are probably a few on the subject of Runes but the only ones that would have been of any help would be in the 'dangerous' section of the bookstore so I wouldn't have been allowed in there. This book, it's all about old and well… ancient Ancient Runes," Harry rolled his eyes but Hermione continued on, "and their meanings or certain words and what the Ancient Runes would look like for it. Now, this book is considered… well dark because many of the Runes inside are used solely for the practice of Dark Arts. But this book or more like these _books_ may hold the key to what I want."

Hermione stood up and started to pace, a pensive expression on her face.

"Now, since there are very dangerous things in these books, I needed to be an adult to buy them since no adult that I know in their right mind would have let me buy it or bought it for me in fact. _That_," she looked at Harry sharply, "is why I wasn't capable of getting it until this point in time. Plus if anyone knew my reasoning behind it, well, they'd've shipped me off to St. Mungo's probably. And _yes_ Harry, I will tell you what the purpose these books possess in due time."

She sat down on the bed and faced Harry. She met him with a steady gaze before continuing.

"I've already asked Ron if he would accompany me to the book store in Diagon Alley and he agreed he would. Now I'm asking you, would you accompany me to Diagon Alley?"

Harry stared at her for a few moments in thought before saying, "If anyone saw us, three students from Hogwarts, adults or not, we could be in big trouble since they'd probably go and tell McGonagall. The worst that could happen is that a Death Eater or multiple Death Eaters would show up, kill you two, take me to Voldemort, and then kill me. Unless of course you know of a way to get into Diagon Alley, buy the books in the adult section of the book store, without arising suspicion since you would be buying such a dark book, make it out of there without the book store owner alerting the Ministry to potential Death Eaters, make it home and keeping the book safe from prying eyes and do whatever else it is that you are planning on doing? All without being caught by the Ministry, by Voldemort, by the Order, or by your Parents since I assume neither of your parents would willingly let you go? Which makes me ask you also, how am I going to get out of here without bringing about suspicion since someone is almost more than likely always watching me and what excuse do you two have for leaving Headquarters or the Borrow?"

Hermione looked finally relaxed and smiled a bright smile, "Why Harry, it seems as if I was mistaken, you have grown up quite a bit. Thinking thoroughly before acting and all. I'm proud of you."

He grinned and urged her to tell him what she had planned.

"Well, first off, in order to get you out of here, I plan to tell the Order that Ron and I are planning a special event for just the three of us for your birthday, so we would be doing this on your birthday if you had no objections of course."

Harry shook his head no.

"Right, well, we walk to the outskirts of Little Whinging we'll disapparate to the Leaky Cauldron, hoods up of course, go into the back room and put on some very mild glamour charms to disguise ourselves. We will look sufficiently old enough so that the bookstore owner doesn't question our age when we try to purchase the books. Before we leave, we are to Obliviate him, sadly. I'm not the best at them, but I think I am proficient enough."

"That part I really like." Ron interjected. "Think about it Harry, when we first met her, she was as strict as McGonagall when it came to the rules, now she's even breaking the Ministry rules! I'd say we've corrupted her alright haven't we mate?"

Harry barely suppressed a laugh. "Yeah, I'd say so."

Hermione scowled at them, "This isn't funny you two!"

"Neither of us said it was funny. We're just admiring how you are so willing to break rules when you used to try to keep em firmly in place."

"Ronald." She warned softly.

Sensing he may get hit again, he shut up.

"Right, well, where was I? Oh yes, after we Obliviate him, we need to quickly shrink the books and put them in our pockets, then after maybe 20 seconds he should come around so we'd need to give him some false alibi as to how we just appeared before him. I will say something along the lines of how he seemed to be dozing a bit and nodded off before we entered the store. It's simple yet quite believable. After that, we leave saying we just remember we'd forgotten our money or something, then leave. We will go back into the Leaky Cauldron and exit from there by means of Apparation. We will go to a discreet location in the woods, Ron knows where so you'll have to travel with one of us since we can't mention it for safety measures. Once we're at that location, we'll lower our glamour's then disapparate to the outskirts of Little Winging and we'll walk back to your place. Sound good?"

"Very." Harry agreed eagerly.

Hermione stood up and was quickly followed by Ron. Harry, sensing she was about to lower the charms she placed on his bedroom, quickly spoke up.

"Why do you need these Ancient Rune books? Surely not for school?"

Hermione froze. She had hopped he wouldn't ask her again.

"Harry, it's getting late and both Ron and I are quite tired. We need to be going but I promise, when we come to pick you up, I'll place… well come to think of it you could place the charm up since you'll be an adult!" She smiled brightly, "But any way, the charms will be placed and I will tell you in full. We'll come around nine in the morning. Sound good?"

"Yeah, bit early but I can deal with it."

"Good."

Hermione raised her wand again before Harry interrupted her once more.

"Nice plan Hermione. You truly are the brains behind our operations."

Hermione turned pink. "Nonsense, you two can be clever when you need to be. You just tend to act on impulse more, but you two, if you could control your impulses, you come up with this stuff yourselves as well. It's not that difficult."

Harry nodded and she lowered the charms.

"Oh dear, Harry! Seems as if we dozed off doesn't it?"

Harry cleared his throat and made it somewhat lower. "Hmm? Oh, why look at the time! I suppose we have dozed a bit. Oi! Ron! Get up, you lazy bum. You're drooling on my bed!"

"Oh, right right. Sorry bout that mate. Well it is a bit late so what d'you expect? I suppose we should go back home now Hermione. What d'you think?"

"It would be a good idea to head back before we lose too much concentration and end up splinching ourselves."

Ron grimaced. "Right. Time to go!" He said rather hurriedly.

Harry grinned. "Thanks for coming to see me guys. It may have been only two or three weeks since schools been out, but I've missed the both of you something terrible."

"Aww, Harry!"

She made her way over to Harry and hugged him.

"You'd better go. I suppose I'll see you later."

"Yeah, bye mate. If the Dursley's cause any trouble, owl me. I bet Fred, George and myself wouldn't mind coming over to uh… mess with them a bit."

Harry grinned. "I don't think they will, but if they do, I'll owl."

Hermione cast the silencing charms on Ron as well as herself right after they both said goodbye.

Hermione silently disapparated first with a single turn, and Ron followed suite with a nod and the motion of something that looked like a bird so he assumed he was reminding him to owl him if he needed anything, Harry nodded and then Ron silently disapparated as well. Harry quickly slid into bed, eager for sleep to consume him.

"_Maybe this summer won't be as bad as I thought it would be." _He thought to himself just before he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

AN// Okay, having another go at writing an HP fic. Each one has seemed to just fall apart on me. I don't think this one will though, I'm doing something a bit different, I'm keeping an outline! xD. Well, I do hope you enjoyed this chappie and it would be awesome if you could also leave me a review. Thanks again for reading!

Oh, one more thing, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in being my beta for this story. If so, just send me a message or something. Thanks.


	2. The Hunt

Lost Secrets

Chapter 2: The Hunt

Summary: Hermione remembers a few of the ruins from the arch the Veil was placed in and searching through an Advanced Ancient Ruins book, she reveals a secret about the Veil no one knew of before. Might her discovery lead to Harry, Ron, and Hermione finding Sirius? Alive?

Disclamer: I only own the plot, everything else belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling

* * *

"Boy!" Aunt Petunia's shrill voice resounded up the stairs. 

Harry quickly got up from his spot on his bed. Making his way down the steps, he hoped that it was Ron and Hermione, and to his great pleasure, he found that it was.

"Hey Harry." Ron and Hermione said in unison.

They stood in the doorway, looking somewhat putout at Petunia's reluctance to let them in. She kept glancing out the door in all directions, looking for any who may see what was transpiring.

Stopping at the bottom of the steps, he greeted them back, "Hey guys." He looked at his aunt and asked, "May they come in, we just need to talk for a few minutes."

Petunia looked horrorstruck at the idea of having any of _his_ kind in to her home, but she quickly ushered them in when Harry added, "No one will be able to see them inside, but if we were outside, I'm sure people would notice us just standing outside you door."

Safely inside his bedroom with the door shut, he turned to see Ron and Hermione looking at him somewhat anxiously and making quick glances towards the window.

They were being watched again.

When they saw comprehension flit across his face, their own broke into broad smiles.

"What?" He questioned.

Hermione lifted her wand and cast a single spell, and in that instant, sparks of light and of a variety of colors burst into the air.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" She said happily, almost jumping up and down.

Ron grinned. "Yeah, Happy Birthday, mate. If you're noticing a lack in the department of presentland, I'll have you know we're taking you to Diagon Alley so you can pick out what you might want since neither of us really know what to get you. Sound good?"

"Sounds wicked!" He exclaimed. "Your parents are letting you both out to go to Diagon Alley? By yourselves?" Harry added, playing along.

"Well," Hermione started, "they were really nervous about it and at first they refused point blank, but then we mentioned how we were adults and they couldn't stop us so they just asked, or more like in Mrs. Weasely's case, begged us to let some extra _friends_ tag along. Ron and I both agreed that since it was your birthday we wanted to take you by ourselves since we are your closest friends."

"Thanks you two."

"Sure thing, mate. Say, you can do magic now, haven't you used any yet?"

"No, haven't thought about it really. Want me to have a go?"

Ron nodded in encouragement and Harry cast the silencing spell on the room under his breath, still unable to get the knack of nonverbal spells.

"There now, no one will be the wiser of our discussions. Nice one Harry. But you still need to practice saying your spells nonverbally. I can guarantee you it'll come in use in the future."

"I know, but right now, I'm fine with not saying them nonverbally."

Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, but you'd do well with knowing them _sooner_ rather than _later_. Honestly."

Ron sniggered and Hermione ignored him.

Remembering what they were really here for and what they had to get he asked, "So do tell me Hermione, what is so important about this book."

Hermione's eyes shifted uncertainly to Ron who shrugged and said, "Don't look at me. You're the one who knows the whole story, not me. Therefore, you need to be the one to talk."

She nodded but still looked uncertain.

"Well Harry, I suppose it'd be best to just plow right in to the thick of it instead of dancing around the subject so here goes. You remember that room, in the Department of Mysteries, the one that had the Veil?"

Keeping his face and voice expressionless even as his mind screamed at the memory, he said, "Yes."

"Well, you remember the, uh… archway that the Veil was in?"

He nodded again.

"Well, there were Ruins on it. Lot's of them. I didn't understand the majority of them, didn't even recall seeing most of them, but there was one Ruin that stuck out, multiple times in fact, that one Ruin and its meaning was why I was so keen on us leaving that room. Plus the simple fact you and Luna were hearing voices coming from the Veil wasn't a good thing."

"I don't remember seeing Ruins. I think I'd remember it if I did."

"Well that's the thing see? You didn't notice it because you were, the first time, focused on the Veil itself, your eyes never left it, and the second time we were busy fighting the Death Eaters and it was obviously not a time to notice something so slight as that while you were in the middle of a fight where you could be killed any second." Hermione flinched, knowing she shouldn't have mentioned that last bit.

Noticing her flinch, Harry encouraged her, somewhat interested and unfazed at what she had said, "What did the Ruin mean?"

He wasn't helping, Hermione still didn't continue until Ron put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Ron and smiled in thanks at the un-Ron-like gesture. He nodded and she continued, "The one root Ruin word that was repeated multiple times throughout the one face of the archway was… 'Death'. That's probably how the room got the name it has, but anyway, there were other's which I picked out, one was 'forever', which was probably what made those who have studied it think that it was a one-way sort of thing, another was 'Doorway', which is how it's described in all the books as, and another I recognized was… um… 'Pain'. The rest I couldn't really decipher at all. Some were so complex, which makes me assume that they've become… for lack of a better word, compounded. Multiple Ruins put together to form a new Ruin and a new meaning. It's probably what has those who study it stumped. I know it certainly has me as such."

"So," began Harry, "why can't you just look up in any old Ruins book what it could mean?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "_Because_, the object itself is a very old, very dangerous, very _dark_, object. The Ruins themselves could no longer be even in existence. The only book that may have it is the only one of it's kind and it's multiple _millennia_ old. The only reason it's survived is probably because who every created it put very powerful preservation charms on it. Only thing I can think of. The charm would have had to have been woven all throughout the binding, the pages, the…"

"All right already, I think we've got it Hermione. Now do stop before my headache becomes worse." Said Ron, slowly rubbing his temple.

She shot him a glare. "Fine then, I was just trying to say that basically, this book might hold the secrets to the Veil."

"If that's so, why haven't any Ministry members picked it up?" Questioned Harry.

"It is my belief that the book has been kept in secret. I don't think many people even know about the book. I wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort himself didn't know about it. And you know how he wants to know anything and every ting dark magic."

"Which brings up the question I've wanted to know but you've refused to answer, how the bloody hell do _you_ know about this book that even you-know-who doesn't know about?"

Sending scathing looks in Ron's direction, it didn't hide the sudden blush that crept up her cheeks.

"Come on Hermione. _Please_ will you tell us?"

Ron looked at her with puppy dog eyes and his lips in a pout, trying his hardest to shake Hermione enough into surrendering.

It worked.

"Fine," she sighed and turned and even brighter pink, "I was in the books store nearly a year ago, right after, you know, Sirius died." Harry's whole body froze but he managed to keep his face blank. "Ever since I saw the Ruins, I've looked through every book containing Ancient Runes that I could find. I even sent Dumbledore a letter asking him if I could visit the school's library in search of a book. He granted my request of course and took me to school where while he was in his office, I practically tore apart the library in search of every book that contained Runes. Thank goodness Madam Pince wasn't there. She'd've banned me from the library."

"Oh the horror." Ron muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Harry, who he was sitting next to on Harry's bed, could hear. Hermione did hear however, and so she shot a stinging hex his way. To slow to react in time to the unexpected hex, it hit his left arm and shot a flurry of stinging tendrils up and down his arm. He hissed at Hermione and she merely smiled smugly back at him.

"Continuing, I went to the book store in Diagon Alley and, um," Her cheeks suddenly turned bright red, altogether skipping pink since they'd settled back to their normal color, "I told the book store owner that, Madam Pince… that she sort of wanted a book, from the dangerous section of the store, for research… and that… she sent me to pick the one I thought would help her the most."

She lowered her head in embarrassment while Ron, nursing his still stinging arm, clapped, followed by a somewhat quite Harry.

"See! I told you! Corrupted her we have! I knew it!"

Harry came to her rescue again by asking, "Weren't you caught?"

She looked up, "Yes, he hadn't believed me for a second but he let me through anyway. After I had gone in search of the Ancient Runes books' he had apparently flooed Madam Pince and she said that no, she hadn't sent me. But anyway, I was able to find a book just in time, I saw the title and it's reference to another book whose title I didn't manage to find. The book contained some information about dark objects that had Runes on them and just some un-common Runes themselves. I don't think that book itself will have the information we need, but hopefully, the other book I saw referenced in their will still be… in existence. If not… there's no hope."

Harry, who had refrained from saying anything other than to aid Hermione occasionally, now spoke up. "So this book, it's supposed to what? Contain knowledge on how exactly the Veil works, or what exactly the Veil is?"

"Yes, in short that is what it may say."

"So, if we find the right book, we may… we might…" he sighed and rested his arms on his legs, "Sirius could still be alive?"

He looked at Hermione who looked back through eyes, which were getting red and glazed looked rather quickly, "Yes, he very well might be."

Harry took in a sharp breath. "Well then. I think we should be going then. Don't you?"

His voice was strained. He could hear it and he knew that they could as well.

Hermione smiled slightly. "Yes, but first I need to go over how exactly everything needs to play out."

And with that, Hermione began to go over the plans for their trip to Diagon Alley, with a very anxious Harry listening for any possible way the mission may fail.

_Crack_

The sound of Hermione apparating with two 'passengers' resounded throughout the long forgotten cottage.

Harry looked around at his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"It was my great-grandparent's cottage before they died. Their only daughter, my grandmother, didn't want anything to do with it since it harbored so many memories of her parent's from when she was a child. So the house was left empty and was forgotten until I asked my grandmother, just before she died, where exactly her parent's had lived. You see she had refrained from speaking of it and no one knew exactly where it was since the trail had long since disappeared and her parent's were private people and never invited anyone over. So on her deathbed, she told me the location of this house. She knew she was going to die and she knew that for my entire life, the mystery of the cottage always was lurking in my mind. I asked her every time I saw her where it was but she never told me. I was only 8 when she passed, and I soon forgot afterwards about the cottage, but with the need of a place to apparate to where no one knew of the location, I remembered her telling me of it. So a few weeks ago I went to the closest town, and followed her directions here. Anyway, I found it. So here we are. No one knows of it except for us. Come, we need to put the glamour's on. Since there are no mirrors we need to do each other's."

Ten minutes later, the trio looked nothing like themselves. Harry had medium brown hair that was cropped short to his head. His nose had become slightly longer, eyes rounder and now a very light gray, and his lips thinner. Ron now had light brown hair with natural blond highlights that was long enough to fall thoroughly into his eyes, which were still their natural brown, his nose became thinner and shorter and his lips became wider. Hermione had nearly black hair with Hazel colored eyes. Her nose became quite thin and her lips became quite full.

Harry took one look at Hermione and gave a shudder. "You look like Bellatrix Lestrange when she was 17. I remember seeing a picture of her at Sirius'."

Hermione stared at him for a few seconds before changing her eye color to a light brown. "Better?"

"A little bit."

"Oh well, it'll have to do. Remember what I said Harry? Ron and I will go first. You are to follow us _exactly_ five minutes after we leave. You got that?"

Harry nodded.

"Okay, we still need to change. I brought a set of really nice robes that I haven't worn yet. I also bought Ron a nice new set along with other attire to wear underneath," Ron grumbled at having to be bought new robes by Hermione, "And here is yours Harry. They are all nice robes. Their nothing like school robes so we probably won't be mistaken for students."

Finding their own individual rooms to change in, they quickly exchanged the clothes they were wearing for the new robes and other attire to wear underneath. Once finished, they all met back up in what Harry assumed was the living room.

"Ready Ron?"

"Yeah."

"Remember the plan, Harry."

Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and with a final nod from her, they disapparated.

Harry, feeling quite along, sought out some place in which he could sit. Finding none other than the floor, he walked over to the window and looked out upon the open sunny meadow. He glanced at his watch every few seconds, but the sixth time he became distracted. He squinted against the sun poring into the cottage and was able to make out a dark black shape bounding its way across the meadow. Harry's heart gave a giant tug when the shape stopped, looked at Harry, and barked.

Tears spilt down Harry's cheeks as the dog slowly turned and bounded back towards the forest from wence it came.

"Don't worry Sirius," he said to no one in particular, "I'll find you."

* * *

Harry emerged from the bathroom at the Leaky Cauldron with a new glamour in place. His hair was now a very dark brown and his eyes were almost black. He wandered outside of the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley, oblivious to the mutterings in the Leaky Cauldron of his dark complex. 

Wandering down Diagon Alley, he made his way into Gringott's and proceeded to a counter.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal."

He handed over his key to the goblin and followed him into the cart.

Ron and Hermione had told him that they would pay for the book, but he'd have none of it. The book, if it was as old and rare as Hermione said it was, would probably be worth a fortune and there was no way he was making Ron pay with as little as he had or Hermione since he knew she may not have it difficult like Ron, but she needed to save her money as well. So Harry, now traveling on the roller coaster like cart, would be the one who would buy it. He collected his money from his account once the cart stopped and his vault opened, made his way back into the cart and headed back to the surface.

He exited Gringott's, his bottomless money bag now full of nearly a thousand Galleons, and made his way to the book store where he found Ron who know had black hair as well, startlingly blue eyes, somewhat full lips and a sharp chin and cheek bones and Hermione who now was a dark blonde, still full lips and a thin nose but hazel eyes that were set just so to give a kind look to her face.

Watching as they looked through the bookshelf, not really searching for anything, he quickly cleared his throat and gave them the 'okay' hand signal. They looked up, nodded, and walked over to him as he made his way to the counter where a mid-twenties fellow was looking through a book behind it.

"Hello." Harry said in a somewhat lower voice.

The fellow gave a jump but quickly righted himself and stood up. "How do you do?"

"Fine thanks. We are looking for a… rare book."

"Well, do you know the title, sir?"

"Yes," Hermione interjected and walked forward, "It's called Ancient Runes and Ancient Items."

The man narrowed his eyes at them. "I'll have you know that that book is not allowed to be purchased by any who aren't of legal age. It is full of _Dark_ things and shouldn't be used for idle reasons."

Ron stepped forward and stood to his full height. "Do we look like _children_ to you?" He said sneering. "We know exactly how it should be handled."

The man stepped back a little bit, somewhat unnerved by Ron. "W-well the price… I doubt…"

"Leave the price to me. We know it is for sale here, so why don't you go and fetch it for us. We'll be waiting."

"Y-yes S-sir's and Miss."

The salesclerk scrambled around his desk and headed to a closed off room to the left, opened the door, and disappeared behind it.

"Ronald! We were meant to get a book! Not to scare him senseless! We'll be lucky if he hasn't gone off to alert the Auror's!"

"Calm down Hermione. It was all in good fun eh Harry?"

He jokingly jabbed Harry in the ribs.

"Yeah, it was a bit funny. But you need to restrain yourself. Just seem intimidating, not threatening. He needs to know we mean business, not that if he doesn't get the damn book we'll kill him." Harry said heatedly.

"Sorry mate. Just having some fun." Ron said, eyes downcast.

"Yes well you need to learn when the time for fun is and when the time for acting you age is! This is supposed to have been an easy 1-2-3, instead the guy is probably hyperventilating back there, afraid that we're Death Eaters!"

Ron nodded, eyes downcast, "Sorry," he mumbled.

Harry turned away from him. Hermione had remained quiet, looking at Harry curiously. He had taken a very big interest in this and Hermione hoped that she wouldn't let him down by the book not having anything of importance in it.

The man stumbled from the back room, sweat easily apparent on his face.

"Here's the book you wanted. It's 300 galleons."

The man refused to look up at them and Harry stepped forward slowly and said, "Sorry if we scared you a bit. We're just in a hurry and we are in fact of age and it gets annoying when people keep calling us kids. You must have been there once upon a time as well. Certainly you understand our annoyance at being called kids?"

The salesclerk looked up and gave a small feeble smile. "Yes, I suppose I can understand. These times, they leave us all room to be quite a bit jumpy. Entering, and speaking as you have, it'll unnerve the best of us."

Harry nodded. He looked at the book then at Ron and Hermione. He needed to get the price down incase they needed to buy another book.

"How about 100 Galleons for it. I know… _we_ know that it's been here for decades if not longer and it still hasn't been sold. Plus, look at its condition. It's quite tattered. I'd never pay 300 Galleons for it."

The salesclerk didn't know what to say, he never had someone want to barter with him before, but then again he was quite new and most of his customers had bought the basic books that were fairly cheap.

"250 Galleons."

Harry thought for a second and scratched his chin, he only wanted to pay 200 Galleons.

"160 Galleons."

"No, I need at least 225 Galleons for this book. After all it is rare and is said to be the only copy in existence. Plus it comes from the B.C. times."

Harry sighed. "All right. You have me, 225 Galleons it is."

Despite Ron and Hermione's outbursts at him paying that much for a book, he magically counted 225 Galleons and placed them on the counter.

"There you go."

He quickly grabbed the book from the stunned salesclerk and opened it up.

Whispering to Hermione he asked, "What page was that other reference on?"

"I don't know." She whispered back. "Should be right about he-here!" She jabbed a finger at a familiar picture.

"The Veil." He stated.

"Yes, here's the referenced book below it." She quickly scanned the title and date it was made. "Well be hard pressed to find it, even if it exists. I've never even heard of it. Plus it says that its already a thousand years old."

"How the bloody hell can you read that? That… that's _Latin_ that is!"

"Honestly! I've been taking lessons in Latin during the summer for the past two years. Mum and Dad bought me a few books on how to teach yourself Latin and so I'm doing exactly that. I'm a bit rough when it comes to it, but I've got enough to read a sentence or two without stumbling." She looked up at the still awestruck salesclerk. "Excuse me, Sir?"

Startled, he looked up and acknowledged her, "Yes?"

Hermione walked forward, placed the book on the counter, and pointed towards the referenced book name. "Do you have this or know of anyone who might?"

The salesclerks' eyes squinted at the text before he said; "We don't have it here, no. The date it's described as being written in signifies that it's even more rare than this, and seeing as this is a dark object, the only place I can think of that _may_ have it is a store or two in Knockturn Alley. You could probably find it in either _Borgin and Burkes_ or in _Books Will Equal Your Success_. Either store carries dangerous items; some items are even more dangerous than the owners. If you go, be careful. I know I can't deter you, so at least tread carefully down there."

Hermione shut the book with a snap, thanked him and pulled out her wand. She quickly shrunk the book, pocketed it, and then pointed her wand at the salesclerk.

"Sorry I have to do this."

The salesclerks' eyes widened and his mouth formed a small 'o' in horror, probably thinking he was about to be killed.

"_Obliviate_!" Hermione cried.

The man flew backwards hit the wall, and slumped the floor unconscious. Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly left the store and headed towards Knockturn Alley. Just outside the entrance to the alley, Harry stopped them.

"If anything happens, to any of us, the ones still capable of leaving are to do so. Disapparate _immediately_ if one of us is captured or cornered, don't play the hero all right?"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other and immediately began to argue, "Enough!" Harry said quite loudly, "Ron! Hermione! Either you do as I say or we are going back now. I'll not have your deaths on my head as well. Am I understood?"

At the furious glare Harry gave them, they consented.

Slowly and catiously they made their way to _Borgin and Burkes_ but once inside, their hopes at finding the book were dashed when Borgin said he had never even heard of it. Their next attempt at _Books Will Equal Your Success _was more fruitful. The second they mentioned the books title, the owner of the store went into a fit of whooping laughter. She had obviously had the book for a long time.

"Here you are good Sirs and Miss. Is there anything else I can interest you in?"

"No. This is it." Harry said trying to sound intimidating since there were at least two other figures in the store with their hoods pulled up. Their identities unknown.

"Very well, since I've this book has been here for the better part of a century, I'll cut down the price to only 500 Galleons."

Ron gaped, "You're cutting the price down? What the bloody hell was it before?"

The owner looked at Ron, "I normally would have sold it for a thousand Galleons, but like I said, it's been in here for the better part of a century and no one has even looked at it before so far as I know. Do we have a deal Mr…?"

"Yes we do." Harry ignored her request for his name and magically pulled out 500 Galleons. Ron's eyes were as big as dinner plates by the time the last Galleon was on the counter. "There you go."

He grabbed the book and shrunk it and placed it in his pocket. He nodded to Ron and Hermione and they left the store at a brisk pace.

"Why are we walking so quickly?" Ron questioned Harry.

Harry threw an almost imperceptible glance over his shoulder and saw that what he feared was indeed happening. The other customers at the bookshop were following them.

"Were being followed. By the other two hooded people in the store. Don't let them know we're on to them. Keep walking."

Harry continued on the alley, "We're going the right way aren't we?" He questioned Hermione.

"I believe so. Unless we were supposed to turn back there… oh know… I think we were."

They all stopped and turned around in an attempt to go back the way they came, but upon turning, they came face to face with two Death Eaters. Harry looked back at the way they were going and saw another three Death Eaters appear.

"Well hello Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss. Granger. Nice day isn't it?" Drawled the all too familiar voice of Lucius Malfoy.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gasped.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, voice steady and icy cold.

"Why you of course. The Dark Lord will be pleased that we have managed to capture you, along with you Blood Traitor friend and the Mudblood. He'll enjoy torturing them, but he'll enjoy even more killing you."

Lucius Malfoy laughed, a cold mirthless laugh. He then slowly raised his wand and pointed it at Harry's heart, "_Stupefy_!"

* * *

AN: There you go. Second chapter. Terribly sorry if there are a mass amount of gramatical and spelling errors. Just typed the whole thing up not to long ago and only proof read it once seeing as I was trying to get it up here before the book came out. Sorry for the cliffie, I know how everyone hates them, but hey what can I say, I couldn't resist. xD. Hope you enjoyed, as always, and if you have a minute to spare, drop me a review. I'd be forever greatful. 


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